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Bike or Tube?

Let's say you've recently taken up cycling (probably so you can rock the Pee-Wee Herman cycling suit) but the first chance you get to ride your bike to work you end up drenched because you didn't check the forecast. But, when you take public transport, you end up late because of delays (again, something you didn't check).

This leaves you in a constant quandary over how to get to the office. But no more shall you face this transportation dilemma. Behold, the bicycle barometer.

Every morning when you fire it up the dial will flick towards the bike sign or the Tube sign, enabling you to travel the best way possible.

So how does it work exactly? Taking data about the weather and the tube lines you use to get to work, from the Met Office’s Datapoint API and Transport for London’s APIs, it reduces it all down to one answer.

For example, if it is raining a bit the dial will move a bit towards the tube sign but if the tube is suffering delays, it will move a bit back in the other direction.

Different data points get different weightings. For example snow is more important than a bit of drizzle but the tube station being shut means there's no doubt which mode of transport you'll be taking.

The clever chap, Richard Pope, who invented the contraption used a Nanode and an old clock from a flea market, which you can see in the video below. Best of all you can even build one yourself using these instructions, although be warned it looks fairly tricky.